"Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke

This week's book is so timely and smart, it is guaranteed to suck you in and not let you go until the last page. I had been hearing so much about this one all over social media and TV, I just had to read it for myself. As it turns out, this one definitely lives up to the hype, and it is the perfect read to kick off the summer.

Caro Claire Burke's debut novel, "Yesteryear," is a wild, darkly funny psychological thriller and social satire that dives headfirst into the curated world of social media influencer culture. The story centers on Natalie Heller Mills, a massively successful Christian "tradwife" influencer. To her millions of online followers, Natalie is the picture of domestic perfection, selling a romanticized, pastoral lifestyle of raw milk, fresh farm eggs, and wholesome homesteading from her Idaho ranch. In reality, her idyllic life is an entirely staged performance financed by her internet fame, complete with hidden modern appliances, heavy pesticide use, and an army of hired nannies and ranch hands doing the actual heavy lifting.

The narrative is smartly split into two parallel timelines that keep you completely hooked. In the past-tense timeline, we see Natalie's backstory and her meteoric rise to internet stardom alongside her husband Caleb, who is the directionless son of a powerful conservative politician. This modern-day timeline tracks the gradual, messy unraveling of Natalie's immaculate image as toxic secrets begin to leak. From severe child and animal neglect to a massive public scandal involving a physical assault after Caleb has an affair with their social media producer, Natalie's carefully constructed empire comes crashing down.

The second, present-tense timeline kicks off with a bizarre twist: Natalie suddenly wakes up cold, filthy, and terrified in the year 1855. She finds herself trapped in a brutal, primitive version of her own ranch, surrounded by harsh conditions and children who insist they belong to her, even though she does not recognize them. Stripped of modern medicine, grocery stores, and the internet, she is forced to live out the grueling reality of the pioneer lifestyle she previously monetized as a cute aesthetic. As she struggles to survive the daily physical toll of 19th-century womanhood, Natalie desperately tries to figure out whether she has genuinely traveled through time, if she is trapped in a demented reality TV show, or if something even more sinister is at play. Ultimately, "Yesteryear" serves as a gripping, thought-provoking examination of faith, toxic internet fame, and the stark, often dangerous contrast between our online identities and lived reality.

I hope that you're as enthralled with this book as I was. Don't forget to check out my Instagram @allison.the.reader for more recommendations and book-related fun.